Artistic direction for a culinary residency: divide and share.
Mr. & Mr. has orchestrated the space of the seasonal winter restaurant La Panacée in Montpellier. The tandem began by taking stock of the slender and architecturally structured space that comprises the work designed by 1024.
Mr. & Mr. prefers protocol to the creation of artificial forms. The duo, hence, opted to design the space formed by the room adjacent to the café with a performative dimension in mind. The general idea being sharing rather than experiencing: the clients dine together at a large table that will be subdivided by reinforced glass dividers. The aim is to create temporal unity for the duration of the collective act. The room is set to the rhythm of the components of the menu and the space itself all of which, in the eyes of the team, emulate an art installation. Similar to the role of a props manager, Mr. & Mr. stage subtle and stylish components that they have sourced (cutlery, salt and pepper mills, tableware) and which highlight the starkness of the materials used in the already existing furnishings created by Cigüe.
Mr. & Mr. thereby combines the gesture (culinary know-how) with the staging of the actual experience by way of a discreet spatial fragmentation.